October had descended on us this Monday morning. The mud has softened, acorns had fallen, air was crisp and just a hint cooler. Most of the leaves were now painted a golden yellow while the others remained partially green. Just one more month and we'll finally get snow.

I decided on skipping school today, and by skipping I totally begged my mom to let me stay home because I was 'dreadfully ill'. She didn't buy it, but knew there must be something serious going on if I'd try to get out of going to school like I used to.

I got my phone back, but haven't spoken a word to my friends. I've also tried to avoid Demetri at all costs. He's been making it damn difficult though, considering he's at my house everyday. Meaning I've been holed up in my room the entire weekend. There once an almost awkward run in at the bathroom, but I ran right past him before he could get a word in.

It's just too weird. I kissed him. I was close to swapping spit with him, my arch nemesis since kindergarten. And it wasn't... awful. That's what makes the whole situation obscene!

Today was the day of Serena's cheer tryouts and there was no way I can miss out supporting her. Plus, the chances of running into Demetri are slim. Then I go right back to work with Kendall and Diego after her tryouts. Easy peasy.

I shrugged clothes on and walked to school, the one place I was hoping to avoid today. Luckily I didn't have to go through the front entrance, there were opened gates all throughout the soccer/football field in the back of the school.

Sometimes the field can double for a football field since an average football field is close to the length of a soccer field. Usually though, the football players have to practice at Roosevelt. And almost every single time, a fight breaks out between the players and some airheads from the rival school.

There weren't many people here. Only some people practicing for marching band, some people playing soccer for fun, and a row of girls trying out.

I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw Allison sitting on the top of the bleachers with her friends.

"Luna!" Kendall called me over. My friends were sitting on the first stand closest to the field. "Over here!"

My name got Allison's attention as her eyes searched for me. It didn't take long for those bitter cold eyes to find what they were looking for. She squinted in disgust and hatred.

I should've stayed home. I should've made up an excuse. Maybe it's not to late to-

"Luna!"

Never mind. My friends scooted over to make room for me.

"I was beginning to think you died. Where were you this weekend?" Kendall asked.

"You haven't returned any of our calls," Hazel stated.

"Seriously, if you missed this I would've had to kill you," Serena scolded.

"Guys, need I remind you, I was sick. It's a valid excuse for taking some time away from my phone," I lied.

"You feeling any better?" Hazel asked.

Her hair was freshly chopped. The chestnut ends were nice and refined.

"Enough to come here and go back to work today."

"But not enough for school?" Hazel continued to question.

I'm being interrogated. She always has a specific hard look in her eyes whenever she interrogates.

"Nope," I quickly said before switching topics. "Serena, you ready for the tryouts?"

Serena flashed a cocky grin.

"Honey I've been ready," Serena slightly glanced to the side. "These bitches don't stand a chance."

"I wouldn't be too sure of that," A deep raspy voice spoke.

Oh for fucks sake. I don't even need to turn around to know who's behind me, but I do anyways.

There he is, Demetri dressed in a fitting navy sweater, black jeans, and a smug expression. That expression didn't last the second his eyes landed on me.

Looking away from his stupidly captivating gaze, I focused on the odd large camera hanging from his neck.

"I've slept with a good amount of those girls in the stands and some of them can be surprisingly flexible," Demetri smirked.

Some of the girls caught his eye and waved at him. Demetri winked in return while the rest of us gagged.

"What are you doing here idiot? I thought you were going to whats-her-face's house to make things right," Kendall spoke.

"Carly, and nope, that's a lost cause. Plus I got caught holding weed in the locker room that wasn't even mine by the way, and that I wasn't going to use. Punishment for holding it though was taking pictures for yearbook because a lot of the yearbook club members are out sick. So smile."

He brought his camera out to his eye and snapped a quick photo of us before we could move.

"That's new. They're becoming more creative with your punishments," Kendall said.

"Yeah, but now I'm being careful to stay out of trouble for a while."

"Oh is the Demetri Garcia turning a new leaf?" Serena asked.

"That's surprising," Hazel commented.

"Sort of, I made a deal with someone to try something new," Demetri's eyes burned into mine.

My face reddened and if anybody noticed, I'd blame it on the cool weather. This is ridiculous.

"Got to go ladies, got pictures to take," Demetri exaggeratedly rolled his eyes.

He walked off and went up to the girls that were going to try out. I tried not to glare at the fact that most of them were blushing and giggling as they spoke to him.

Kendall narrowed her eyes in his direction.

"Something's off with him. He's been acting different since Friday," Kendall put her fingers to her chin. "But I don't know what it is."

"Are you kidding me? This whole school's been acting different since Friday. Any of us could've been shot," Serena exclaimed.

Serena's face dressed with worry lines. She'd scream if I told her that though.

"I saw what happened," Hazel gulped. "I was sitting at the bar with Mason-"

"You were with my brother when it happened?"

That's news to me. He told Demetri he was dancing with his date.

"Yeah, he was getting drinks for his date and just made some small talk with me," Hazel hastily said. "But then this person dressed in all black walked to the center of the dance floor, close to where Serena was."

Serena shivered, goosebumps breaking out all over her skin.

"He could've shot me or anyone else next to him, but he got Caitlin instead," Serena said with sorrow.

My brother told me all about it when he got home from the club. He was in distress and was visibly scared, something he had to hold in for his date's sake. Mason showed me the news updates on how Caitlin was the one who got two bullets blasted into her.

She's in the hospital now as we speak in critical condition. Caitlin lost a lot of blood and her spleen may be ruptured. The awful coincidence of Peyton's boyfriend died in the beginning of the year and now her best friend is in the hospital, was messing with my mind. Life is cruel.

"Here you go," Serena put something in my hands.

She handed me two frilly blue pom poms, Kendall and Hazel were handed some too.

"Uh Serena?" Hazel quirked a brow. "Why are you giving us these?"

"You got to cheer me on while I'm cheering, duh," Serena said.

The cheerleaders finally walked onto the field all dressed in their blue and gold uniforms. Some of them chose not to wear leggings underneath for whatever reason. It's early sixties outside, why would you want to freeze?

There was this long white foldable table on the field that the cheerleaders settled behind. Veronica Rubio, captain of the cheer squad was seated in the middle of course. Her shiny black hair had been recently chopped to her shoulders, making it only slightly longer than Hazel's. Her lips were painted a dark plum and she had the most perfectly shaped eyebrows I've ever seen.

Kendall's face hardened. Her arms tightly crossed over her chest as she leaned back into the stand.

"Wish me luck," Serena smiled as she went to go sit with the other try out girls.

Veronica was smiling, looking genuinely excited to see what these applicants can do. All until her dark brown eyes darted to Kendall. You can sense the tension from across the field. The hatred in each other's eyes was unmistakable.

"Hey, play nice," I put a hand on Kendall's arm. "We're here for Serena, remember?"

"She's not worth the trouble Kendall," Hazel told.

Veronica's face looked pinched.

"Who let the gorilla onto the field?" Veronica asked.

"The same dumbasses that decided to allow a bloodsucking mosquito into the school," Kendall shot back.

The tension multiplied. Knowing these two, they were about one insult away from getting up and killing each other.

But Veronica took a deep breath and ripped her eyes away from Kendall. Surprisingly not fueling anymore fire to the situation.

"Let's get this started!" She shouted. "Sienna Rodriguez?"

Girl after girl went. Some were awful, like the rejects from the Bring it On movies. Some were surprisingly incredible, doing flips and back handsprings I can only do in my dreams.

I tried not to stare at Demetri while he took pictures of everything and proceeded to chat up so many girls. This was a normal thing, not the picture taking, the flirting. I'm used to seeing it. It's usually annoying but today it was infuriating. I had to constantly unclench my fists, making sure my nails weren't digging into my already mangled palms.

Finally it was Serena's turn.

"Serena Vazquez?" Veronica asked with disinterest.

She looked like she wanted to skip over the name. I'm sure she would've if it wouldn't be such a bad look on her part.

Serena walked onto the freshly cut grass, confidently swinging her hips. She turned her red head around and winked at us.

The three of us couldn't contain our excitement so we started screaming her name. We even waved the pom poms around, it may have looked obnoxious but for once, I didn't care. My girl was going to kill it.

"I thought you were a dancer," Veronica mentioned.

"I am a dancer," Serena stated. "But you know Principal Burns cut so many art programs, including the dance team. So this is the next best thing."

"Sweetie, this is for people who are serious about cheerleading. It's not all just dancing."

"You're right it's not, it's also yelling high pitched annoying cheers and waving our pom poms around enthusiastically," Serena said in an airhead tone.

Veronica didn't appreciate that. She snarled and waved her hand.

"Stop talking, let's see what you can do," She crossed her arms. "I better be impressed."

"Honey, I'm about to have everybody on this field shaken up," Serena placed a hand on her hip and turned to the girl by the large speaker. "Play the track."

And Serena did just that. Everyone in the stands had stunned faces. Even the guys playing soccer on the field stopped dead in their tracks with dropped jaws.

The girl was doing things I've never even seen her do. I knew she was flexible, I knew she could do cool little tricks with her body, but never in my life did I think she could do stunts like a gymnast.

Kendall, Hazel and I kept cheering her on, waving our pom poms in the air, screaming our heads off. I was smiling widely, staring at my friend with pride. I noticed out of the corner of my eye, Demetri snapped a photo in my friends and I's direction.

I turned to look at him and our eyes locked. The same deep brown eyes I saw through the mask on Friday. He smirked at me and I quickly looked away, trying to convince myself that I just needed some time for things to cool down before they could go back to normal.

The feelings churning in my gut when I look at him were only temporary jitters. He knew my secrets, I needed to learn how to be ok with that. Hopefully Demetri's trustworthy.

Serena finished up and she received a roaring round of applause from everyone. Veronica couldn't even hide the approval in her expression. She gave in and smiled, looking past the animosity she had for anyone associated with Kendall.

"Wow Serena, that was incredible," Veronica nodded. "I think the decision is pretty unanimous. Welcome to the team."

"Yeah!" We all cheered again.

Serena did her little happy dance off the field and jumped into our arms.

"You were freaking amazing!" Kendall said.

"Since when can you do multiple backhand springs?" Hazel asked.

Serena flipped her bright hair over her shoulder.

"Can't give away all my secrets can I?" Serena grinned.

"I'm so proud of you!" I pinched her cheeks.

"Thanks my love," She pinched my cheeks back.

When tryouts were over, Kendall drove her and I to work. We had a mini jam session to some Lincoln Park in the car before pulling into the parking lot.

"Oh god it's full," Kendall sighed. "These people have no where better to go on a Monday?"

"Nope," I said. "I'm surprised people aren't shying away since what happened downstairs."

"That's because it happened downstairs, JJ's diner is still somewhat safe-ish. But no way anyone's going to want to party in Kryptonite anymore once the police restrictions are lifted."

There was yellow caution tape everywhere downstairs. It was an official crime scene and my heart broke for Cyrus. This was his passion project, something he worked on for years. And now, it could possibly be all ruined.

My smile went wide as we walked in to see JJ standing behind the counter talking to his wife and manager of the diner, Mary. I had to rub my eyes once to make sure I wasn't imagining things, but it was surely him. His gray balding hair was slick backed. JJ was wearing one of his good old plaid button up shirts, and had his hands in his large worn out jean pockets.

"JJ!" Kendall and I yelled.

We ran up behind the counter and hugged him. It's been nearly two months since we've seen him. He's been out sick, sick with what still remains unknown.

"Girls!" He grinned with his crooked smile.

I took a good look at his face. He looked a lot older than from the last time I saw him.

"How are you feeling?" I asked.

"Like I could use a basket of fries but you know how Mary feels about sampling the merchandise," JJ joked.

We laughed and saw Diego exit from the kitchen.

"Finally you guys are here, this place is going to be more packed than it already is."

Right now everything looked bearable. But the sounds of more cars pulling into the parking lot and teenagers laughing had me alarmed. I needed to get one more question in though.

"How's Cyrus doing?" I asked.

JJ's forehead creased.

"He's a little banged up right now, but he'll pull through. I raised him to have thick pork skin," JJ patted my back. "Time to get to work chickadees, we'll talk afterwards."

Kendall and I changed into our yellow aprons and went to work. It was a constant back and forth from the kitchen and the tables. Luckily Kendall, Diego and I have adapted to the quick pace and swiftness this job required.

The only thing that made working here awful, were the customers that would come in from Kennedy and Roosevelt High. They were... difficult.

"They're dickwads," Kendall rolled her eyes as we settled behind the counter for a moment. "Roosevelt kids are here."

"Yeah, well Anthony just texted me saying him Mason and Demetri are pulling up with a bunch of people," Diego groaned.

"And by people do you mean..." My eyebrows pinched.

"Yep, Allison's people," Diego sighed.

Might as well just kill me now.

Right on cue a group of teenagers walked in. Consisting of Mason and Demetri having their arms around some of the new cheerleaders that made the team. Adam with some of his friends, some people from the soccer team, a few of Allison's main friends including the devil herself, and something that made Kendall snap a tray in half.

Anthony walked in standing awfully close to Veronica, they were laughing all the way to the large booth in the back.

A weird expression seized Kendall's face. It was a mixture of betrayal, hurt, and rage.

"You're shitting me. This has to be a joke," Kendall shook her head and scoffed. "Of all the girls."

I knew Anthony had a new fling judging from Friday night, I just didn't think it was Veronica. How could he? He knows Kendall's deep rooted history with her.

"I can't take that table," Kendall said.

"Neither can I," I pleaded as we turned to Diego.

Allison's there. I know she wouldn't pull anything while my brother's sitting right next to her, but still.

"You guys owe me," Diego shook his head and brought his note pad out.

Kendall and I observed as he walked into the sharks den, but he didn't get eaten. If anything those piranhas gave him welcoming smiles and personal handshakes.

I could see some of the people from that table glaring at the Roosevelt students.

"Please don't let a fight break out," Kendall pleaded. "I'm not down to clean up blood, again."

Veronica ran her hand up Anthony's arm sensually.

"Then again, I wouldn't mind if it was her blood," Kendall snarled.

"Easy girl, let's just get through this next forty five minutes," I squeezed her shoulder.

She nodded, her anger slowly simmering down.

"Luna, your turn for the register," Debby said, taking out a pack of cigarettes. "I'm going on break."

"Lucky bitch," Kendall muttered.

"Who, her or me?" I asked.

"You both," Her eyes narrowed. "Now if you excuse me, I have food to hand out."

Kendall walked back into the kitchen while I remained standing behind the cash register. There weren't many more people walking in and ordering, so I found something to occupy my time. I was writing lyrics on napkins again. Specifically anything that can go well with what Demetri said to me Friday night.

Nothing was sticking though. So I moved onto another part of the song I was writing. I did lose that deal to him when we ditched detention, might as well start the song already. He wanted me to write how I truly felt about him and it can't be a hate song.

So how the hell am I supposed to do this?

I looked at him sitting in the booth near the back whispering in a girl named Emma's ear. Her cheeks flushed and she